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The music of New Orleans is renowned throughout the country and possibly even the world, which is why it is no surprise that a native of this cultural mecca, such as Smith, would be enamored by the incredible jazz sensation. Smith is known as an amazing award-winning freelance photographer, who prides himself on
capturing the beauty and spirit within the New Orleans jazz culture. He also
became intrigued with the New Orleans street culture, especially the second line parades and jazz funerals.

Michael P. Smith has worked as a staff photographer for the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archives at Tulane University and cofounded the Tipitina's
nightclub. He is currently the assistant director of the Professor Longhair
Foundation, at which he is assisting the preservation of the memory of Roeland
Byrd and his contribution to New Orleans music.

Some of his work can be found on display throughout the country. It has been widely collected and remains as a permanent collection within the Smithsonian, Bibliotheque National in Paris, France, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Historic New Orlenas Collection, as well as other important archives. Michael P. Smith has also been awarded two photographer's fellowships from the National Endowment of Arts. He has written several books,
including Jazz Fest Memories, Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans Jazz Fest: A Pictoral History, Spirit World: Pattern in the Expressive Folk Culture of African-American New Orleans, and A Joyful Noise: A Celebration of New
Orleans Music, all available at Pelican.

Today, hundreds of thousands of people swarm to the New Orleans Fairgrounds to experience the cornucopia of culture that is the world-famous New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Who could imagine that at the very first Jazz Fest, the musicians and volunteers outnumbered the members of the audience by about six to one?

The first book that looks beyond the beading, feathering, and dancing of these members of New Orleans’ black community to tell the story of how the traditions began and why they continue today. Hardcover.

New Orleans Jazz Fest: A Pictorial History is an extraordinary documentation through photographs of the evolution of this yearly festival that in New Orleans has become a seasonal ritual comparable only to the revelry of Mardi Gras. Dividing the book into four sections of five-year periods, photographer Michael P. Smith has compiled a running history of the Fest from its first year, when it drew a crowd of only several hundred people to a small site in Congo Square, up through its third decade and its present thirty-five-acre site on the Fair Grounds Race Track.

Many black neighborhoods in New Orleans are perceived by outsiders as areas of decay. However, to photographer Michael P. Smith, these neighborhoods remain the preserves of a rich cultural heritage. Paperback.